The Quakers' long and winding road

For 32 minutes it was. Then reality kicked the Quakers (0-1) right in the shins. Hard. Reality came dressed as the Canisius Golden Griffins. The Griffs (1-0) dampened the expectations and the hype by rallying from 14 points down in the final 10 minutes for an 81-78 first-round Preseason National Invitation Tournament win in front of 3,511 stunned witnesses who wondered if it was really happening. It took some serious heroics from Jerome Allen at the end of regulation to lead Penn (1-1) to an 82-79 overtime victory over the energized Engineers of Lehigh. Allen hit two free throws with 48 seconds on the clock to give the Quakers a 71-70 lead before Rashawne Glenn popped a three-pointer from the right side to put Lehigh (1-1) ahead by two. With only 16 seconds left, Matt Maloney passed the ball to Allen. From seven feet out, Allen nailed a jumper with five seconds on the clock. In overtime, Lehigh could not keep up with Allen and Penn. Allen finished with a remarkable stat line -- 22 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and four steals. Yes, the Quakers boast Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney in the backcourt, but what keyed this win over the Buckeyes, both head coaches said, was getting five starters to perform solidly. Eric Moore dominated Ohio State (1-3) in the paint, scoring 20 points. It was his first game wearing No. 5, which his father donned at Penn as his captain. Scott Kegler complemented Allen and Maloney in the backcourt, tying a career high with 16 points. Penn (2-1) force 14 first-half turnovers and took a 28-28 tie and turned it into a 47-34 advantage at the intermission. After a re-oiling following the first 15 minutes of this contest against Farleigh Dickinson, the Penn men's basketball machine took over. The Quakers (3-1) went on a 78-36 run in the remaining 25 minutes to blow out the Knights (2-3). It was the first time the Quakers scored 100 points against a Divison I school since a 1981 pasting of St. Francis (Pa.) by that same 101-71 score. Thirteen of the 15 Quakers scored. Ira Bowman had a career-high 17 points, and Jerome Allen scored 25 points, helped by a 7-of-8 shooting performance in the second half. Even Fran Dunphy, the reserved Quakers coach with a temperament as steady as his star guard's poise, was blunt after Penn went to Crisler Arena and beat No. 25 Michigan 62-60. "This is as good as it gets, quite honestly," Dunphy said. Jerome Allen's leaner with 4.4 seconds remaining saved a game Michigan (4-4) had stormed back to tie at 60 on a Jimmy King layup with 15 seconds left. Penn led by 21 points in the first half. While Allen (3-for-11 shooting, 6 points) struggled from the field, Matt Maloney and Scott Kegler canned three-pointers repeatedly with wide open looks at the basket. Colgate was simply no match for Penn in this first-round game of the ECAC Holiday Festival. The Quakers (5-1) scored seemingly at will on their way to a 50-28 halftime lead. They hardly let up any in the second period, overwhelming the Red Raiders every step of the way. Everybody got into the scoring act. Junior center Tim Krug scored 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Ira Bowman was 6 of 9 for 14 points, and Jerome Allen also had 14. Super frosh Adonal Foyle scored 18 points for Colgate, but he didn't receive enough help. Only one other Red Raider scored in double figures. As the New York media gushed about Penn's unselfish passing and un-Princeton-like up-tempo offense, the Quakers (6-1) captured the title of the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden with a 79-73 win over St. John's (7-1). Matt Maloney was on fire, scoring 21 of his season-high 24 points in the first half. After missing his first shot, Maloney hit his next eight. Jerome Allen, took over after intermission to finish with 23 points on his way to claiming the tournament's MVP award, past winners of which include Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson Penn won for the second time against a No. 25 team, having beaten Michigan earlier. Penn tied an all-time Ivy League record with its 30th straight conference win in this drubbing of Harvard. Eric Moore led the Quakers (7-1, 1-0 Ivy League) with 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting, giving Penn a balance the Crimson (3-9, 1-1) could not contain. The rest of the Quakers' frontcourt also stepped up. Ira Bowman continued his fine play with 12 points. Senior Shawn Trice added 11, and Tim Krug had 9. The balance led to excellent shot selection for the Quakers and better than 60 percent shooting for the evening. With an 85-70 victory at Dartmouth, Penn (8-1, 2-0 Ivy League) broke the all-time Ivy League record with 31 straight wins. The previous record of 30 was set by the 1969-72 Quakers under the guidance of coaching legends Dick Harter and Chuck Daly. The last time Penn lost an Ivy contest was March 6, 1992 at Columbia, when four of Penn's current starters were freshman and the other, Matt Maloney, was sitting out a year after transferring from Vanderbilt. One of those seniors, Scott Kegler, led the charge past the Big Green (4-8, 1-2) with 26 points on 7-of-9 shooting from beyond three-point range.